There's No I in Team, but There Is an E for Escape
by Syncop8ed Rhythm
Summary: The only thing Shawn had planned for the day was a marathon of Night Court and gorging out on delicious pineapple and other assorted snack food. Evidently, that wasn't meant to be, as Shawn soon found himself on the beach, tied to Gus, Juliet, and Lassiter, while the evil, evil man watched them closely...


Disclaimer: I don't own _Psych. _:(

My Secret Santa fic for apple jacks jules for the 2013 Secret Santa Fic Exchange on Psychfic.

* * *

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and the waves were crashing against the secluded stretch of beach Shawn found himself on. It was such a shame the beauty had been distorted by a malevolent man and his devious plans.

"It's no use," Shawn said, sad eyes latching on to the side of Gus' face. "We'll never make it."

Gus shook his head in agreement even as Juliet and Lassiter vehemently disagreed.

Lassiter's "Shut up, Spencer. We'll make it," warred with Juliet's kinder, more optimistic, "If we work together, we'll be fine."

Shawn shifted, the rope tied around the four of them tightening with his movements. "Jules, normally I love your sunny outlook on life, but I really do have to beg to differ. And Lassie," Shawn shook his head, tilting his head back to knock into Lassiter's shoulder. Juliet was on his left, Gus on his right, and he was back-to-back with the Head Detective. "Usually you're such a doobie downer—"

"_Debbie_ downer," Gus fixed on a sigh, sounding pained, but Shawn just steamrolled over his friend's interruption.

"I thought you'd agree with me!"

"We have to hurry, if we're going to do something," Juliet said, and Lassiter backed her up immediately.

"We're not going down without a fight, that's for sure. On my count, we're taking one step forward. Ready?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Gus shot out. "My forward or someone else's?"

"This is ridiculous!" Shawn shivered in the predawn breeze, bemoaning his fate. They were outside, it was early morning—really, _really _early morning, like way before noon—and he was _freezing. _He bristled at the shushes the other three greeted his statement with. "Well, I'm sorry! But it's freezing and my plans for the day didn't exactly include being stuck with all of you! Gus and I were going to have a _Night Court _marathon until we were cruelly abducted!" He turned his head to glance at Juliet. "You were, of course, welcome, Jules. Lassie? You weren't." He hissed out a sharp breath when Gus somehow managed to elbow him in the side.

"He's got a _gun, _Shawn. Be polite."

Shawn fidgeted again in retaliation, smirking when the others groaned in protest as his movements caused the rope to tighten yet again. "He doesn't have one _now, _though. I'm perfectly safe for the moment."

"Tick-tock!" their captor cruelly mocked them. "You're running out of time."

Shawn glared at the old man and took a deep breath, eyeing the distance they'd have to make to be let out of their bonds and set free. Who knew how long they'd be captive if they didn't escape sooner rather than later? "We _can't_ let him win," he finally said. He made a face at the words he was about to utter. "Lassiter had the right idea, but poor execution. Ow! Gus, stop it!" He elbowed the other man back until he grunted. "On three, we take a step forward, _my _forward. Jules, step to your right, Gus to your left, and Lassie-face, you're going backwards. Do _not _step on me."

"Yeah, because I can see where I'm going," Lassiter shot out sarcastically, grumbling when Juliet scolded him.

Shawn lifted his eyes to the heavens and shook his head. "On three," he repeated. "One…two…_three!" _

The four of them took a wobbly, uncoordinated step, but to Shawn it was the best thing in the world, next to pineapple. _One step closer to freedom. _He shot a triumphant look at the old man. "Okay, again!"

Five slow, shaky steps later, Lassiter cursed in frustration. "I've changed my mind," he said. "This is ridiculous. O'Hara, can you slip the knot?"

"We can't do that! He warned us not to!" Gus exclaimed, and Shawn didn't even need to look to know Gus was close to a panic attack. "You don't know what he'll do if we free ourselves!"

"Woah, woah, buddy," Shawn soothed, bumping his shoulder against his best friend. "We won't. We'll do this just like _he _told us to. Lassie, you don't know the man like I do. He has a wicked, depraved mind. The punishment will be severe if we don't follow his rules. Trust me."

"I want my gun," Lassiter muttered.

Shawn snickered and then cleared his throat at the icy blue glare their captor was leveling at him. "Alright, we need to get moving again. We can't have that much time left. On my count…"

The sun was high overhead by the time they managed to reach their goal, and they collapsed in a tangle of limbs, relieved and exhausted. Lassiter was the only one fighting to free himself from the coil of rope, muttering curses as he struggled against the knots. The rest of them were too tired to consider moving.

Shawn looked up at the shadow that fell over them to see his father grinning down at him. "You are an evil, evil man," he groaned. "I can't believe you lured us here with the promise of pancakes."

"Judging by your grumblings, I thought I 'shanghaied' you, kid, not bribed you," he shook his head. "Really, if that was you trying to curse me under your breath, you need to work on your quiet voice."

Shawn snorted and shook his head. "Are you kidding me? I _wanted _you to hear those comments so you know how much of an evil, evil man you are."

"What the hell!" Lassiter exclaimed and Shawn squirmed from his spot on the ground to see Lassiter struggling with the knots still. "How the hell did you tie these so well?!"

"Boy Scouts, Detective. Always be prepared."

"I don't remember signing up for team exercises, Pop," Shawn broke in, sighing in relief when Henry reached down to help Lassiter untie the rope. "In fact, your bribe was to spend a day on the beach with you, in return for pancakes for me and Gus. _I don't see any pancakes_," he complained.

"Karen mandated them, Shawn. You guys have had some rocky cases lately, and if you're going to be successful, you need to learn how to work together better. I'll give you credit—you didn't completely suck. It wasn't your best effort, of course, gentlemen, lady; but also not a complete failure."

Henry held his hand out to help Juliet stand. "You wasted most of your time complaining about being tied together and having to complete the exercise, actually. Had you put aside your differences immediately to work together, you'd have been done twenty minutes ago." He held his hand out to Shawn next, which Shawn took with only a little hesitation. His father clapped him on the back and bent back down to help Gus to his feet.

"Just out of curiosity, Mr. Spencer, how long did you set aside for us to reach the finish line? You didn't tell us beforehand," Juliet asked politely.

"Factoring in the feud between the Head Detective and my son, and my son and Guster's inability to focus, I set two hours aside for this particular task."

"Hey! I resent that! I have a great attention sp…" Shawn trailed off, suddenly mesmerized as Juliet took the hair tie from her hair and shook out the shiny, golden locks.

"_This _particular task?" Lassiter's question refocused Shawn, who glanced at his father in curiosity.

Henry's grin made Shawn shiver. Evil_, evil_ man.

"You don't think Karen is going to be happy with just _one _barely completed group exercise, do you? Next up!" Henry called, turning around and beckoning for them to follow. "Trust falls!"

Shawn met Gus' wide eyes and whimper with his own groan.

"He's distracted. We can make a break for it now," Lassiter said quietly, glaring at Henry's back.

Gus jumped to his feet quickly, already backing away in the direction of their cars. Shawn reached out to grasp Juliet's shoulder and slowly pull her away.

"I thought you were all gung-ho for this," Shawn whispered as they continued to creep backwards. At least the sand muffled the sound of their footsteps.

"_Trust falls_," Lassiter stressed. "I don't trust you or Guster to catch anything but food."

Shawn tilted his head in concession. "Fair point. I'd catch you, though, Jules!" He grinned at her, his shoulders slumping when she ignored his remark to respond to Lassiter's comment.

"Aw, Carlton! I trust you, too!" she gushed.

"I didn't say that," he rebutted.

"You didn't _not _say it…" she said with a grin.

"Sweet justice!" he exclaimed loudly. "Just because I—"

"Shh!" Juliet and Shawn both shushed his outburst. Henry spun around, face darkening when he saw them backing away from him. He started back towards them immediately and Shawn tugged at Juliet's arm.

"Run!" he yelled hoarsely. "We've been spotted! It's every man for himself now!" He knocked shoulders with Lassiter, causing the detective to go down to one knee with a curse. Tightening his grip on Juliet's hand to pull her along with him (because she wasn't a man and he wouldn't leave her behind), his laughter spilled free as they ran. Lassiter's promises to shoot him mixed with his father yelling his name, and Shawn's glee increased ten-fold.

"Free birrrrrrd!" Shawn yelled and then pulled his eyebrows down in thought. "Free birdies?" he asked with a glance at Juliet, who was still laughing as they ran after Gus. She nodded and he yelled again. "Free birdiiiiiies! Start the car, Gus! Gus…No! Don't you dare drive off without us!"

Gus' eyes were still filled with terror as he stared at Shawn through the front window of the Blueberry and Shawn knew it was a lost cause. "Gus?! Gus! Stop!"

His pace slowed when Gus tore out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires that would have made his former best friend wince at any other time. His shoulders slumped; they'd been _so close._

Juliet tugged his arm. "My car!" she gasped, and Shawn changed course with a heartfelt "Thank God!"

"Shawn! Don't you dare get in that car! Shawn? SHAWN!"

Henry's voice was pleasantly muffled when Shawn slammed the door shut on him, and he breathed a sigh of relief when Juliet pulled out of the parking lot, the sweet sound of burning rubber filling the air for the second time that morning. He didn't dare relax against the seat until they were two miles away, though, knowing it would be bad luck to celebrate too soon.

"You said something about a marathon of _Night Court?" _Juliet asked, cocking an eyebrow at Shawn before she turned back to the road.

Shawn nodded excitedly. "We need to find a defensible home base to watch it, some place they won't be able to find us for a while, and supplies. Pineapples, popcorn, and nachos. Oh, and Gus' invite? Revoked, the traitor."

"Agreed. Also, we'll need to think about how to avoid Carlton for the next few days. Or…how _you'll _avoid Carlton for the next few days."

Shawn lifted an eyebrow at her in question. "Hey, you ran, too, Jules."

She smirked. "Yeah, but you were pulling me along. I had no choice but to go with, a fact I will relay to Carlton before he has a chance to formulate his revenge."

Shawn gaped, shock momentarily silencing him. "Wow," he finally said. "You are an evil, _evil _woman."

"I know," she replied, and he grinned slowly, watching the scenery pass by in a blur.

All in all, it wasn't a bad day. It was beautiful out, the sun was shining, birds were singing, and he was well on the way to watching a marathon of _Night Court_ with delicious snacks and a surprising partner in crime. The day could have gone much worse, could still, if the way Juliet glanced in her rearview mirror was any indication.

"Hold on," she yelled, taking a sudden right turn. Shawn glanced out the window to see his father's truck in the not far-enough distance. "They're chasing us!"

Shawn's grin grew sharper, adrenaline spiking. "Lose 'em, Jules!"

As she took another sharp corner, Shawn gripped the door handle tightly and rephrased his thoughts. Never mind _Night Court;_ he was in an unofficial police chase with _Jules_. This was a freaking _awesome _day!


End file.
